Syracuse, NY -- As the North Side digests the news that the venerable Pond Street Wegmans store will close at the end of the month, Syracuse City Hall has reached out to other grocery operators about moving into the site.

The city’s Neighborhood and Business Development office has been in contact with Nojaim Brothers Super Market, based in Syracuse, Tops, and PriceRite, among other operators.

“And there is some interest,” Mayor Stephanie Miner said.

But the city is hearing from the grocery firms that Wegmans typically does not sell or lease their closed stores to competitors, Miner said.

“So obviously, that’s a huge concern of ours. So we’re going to be making it clear to Wegmans that we want another grocery store in this location and it’s the least that they could do for us,” she said.

The city will do what it can to get another operator in the site, Miner said.

Evelyn Carter, director of consumer affairs for Wegmans, said the company has made “no definitive plans” for the use of the building.

“And if there are businesses that are interested in pursuing the building, we are open to proposals that would be submitted to our real estate department,” Carter said.

That would include proposals from anyone, she said. She said she did not know if Wegmans has sold a building to another grocery store operator.

Ellen M. Blalock / The Post-StandardTerry Green, of Syracuse, lives three blocks from the Pond Street Wegmans and was shopping earlier today. She says she loves Wegmans and its prices compared to the corner stores and the Save-A-Lot market on Butternut Street. She says Wegmans can't be losing money at the Pond Street store. "They are making mad money off of me and my seven kids," she said.

First District Common Councilor Jake Barrett, who represents the Pond Street neighborhood, said he is attempting to set up a meeting with Wegmans officials to discuss if they will reconsider the closure, and if not, what the firm can do to ensure that the building remains an asset the community, including its possible use as a grocery store.

This will be the first grocery store Wegmans has closed in the Syracuse market, and Wegmans doesn’t close many stores, Carter said. But in July it shuttered a store on Dewey Avenue, in the suburb of Greece, adjacent to Rochester.

Since then Wegmans sold the building to a local developer, who leased part of the space to a Big Lots store, said Gary Tajkowski, director of development services for the town of Greece. Work is underway in the building and the store is expected to open in a month or so, he said.

The new owner is looking for other tenants for the building, which is roughly 70,000 to 75,000 square feet and close to 30 years old, Tajkowski said. The building has been vacant for less than a year, and Wegmans kept the property well maintained during that time, he said.

The 31,000-square-foot Pond Street store, which opened in 1970, is the oldest Wegmans in the Syracuse market and the smallest in the chain. Wegmans has said all 140 Pond Street employees will be moved to other local Wegmans stores.